


too far gone

by lester_sheehan



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Jolaric, Other, Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 03:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5114822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lester_sheehan/pseuds/lester_sheehan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set immediately after 7x04. Jo's back, but at what cost?</p>
            </blockquote>





	too far gone

Her eyes are barely open before she realises the sad truth. She doesn’t know where she is, nor what's happened. Her vision is full of vague shapes, mind contaminated with hushed voices. There’s an emptiness rattling through her, as though her insides have been clawed out, forgotten. And somewhere within the recesses of her soul, where unspoken things lurk, she knows that something terrible has happened. 

She knows that she's been lost. 

Breathing feels unfamiliar, a process long passed, and with each intake of air, she feels as though she’s choking. The silence is shattered. 

With one swift motion, she’s sitting upright, coughing so hard that her throat feels like it’s pushing up glass. There are hands brushing against her skin, something being pulled over her head. She’s hazy, can’t remember anything concrete. 

She blinks once more, and then a face comes into view. Someone’s staring at her closely, eyes drilling into her own. Their mouth is moving, and it takes all of her energy to try and hear what they’re saying. She only catches the end: “-and I’ll make sure you’re okay.”

She’s not sure she understands what that means anymore. Ignoring the dryness of her tongue, and the way her eyelids weigh down like lead, she forces herself to speak. “Ric?” It comes out as no more than a rasp. 

“I’m here.” There’s a pressure on her shoulder. “God, I’m here.” And then his arms are around her and he’s holding her so tight, so lovingly, that she leans into his embrace and breathes in deeply. It finally hurts a little less. 

“What happened?” she tries again, gaining the courage to talk. 

He pulls back and brushes her hair from her eyes, his own brimming with tears. “I’ll explain everything later. Let’s just-” He throws a quick glance to Bonnie- it takes one look at her face for Jo to know that something is deeply wrong- before saying, “Let’s get you out of here.”

She winces at the movement as he gently helps her to her feet, offering a pair of loose trousers and an oversized jacket. With one arm slung over Ric’s shoulder, Jo allows herself to be led through the door, sat in the passenger seat of his car. 

Bonnie- from the backseat, hands worrying nervously- makes small talk with Ric the entire way home. Jo can’t bear to speak: gazes out the window, doesn’t dare look to her right. She watches as trees pass and homes flit by, an impending sense of helplessness washing over her. 

She doesn’t belong in this world. Not anymore. 

The minute they walk through the door, she breathes a sigh of relief, unsure of how long she could have kept walking. Her limbs ache, stiff to any movement, and the air tastes stale. She hears Damon before she sees him, his heavy footsteps sauntering into the room. There’s a pause and then, “You did it.” A low chuckle. “You guys are terrifying.”

His words don’t seem to please Bonnie. “She needs to sit down,” she says, clearing the sofa. “Do you ever tidy up in here?”

Damon looks at her passively, shrugs his shoulders and takes a sip of his drink. He meets Jo’s eyes as she takes residence against the cushions, frowns at the emptiness he sees there. “You're very quiet,” he drawls, eyebrows raised. “You used to have a lot to say to me.”

“ _Damon,_ " Ric hisses. Damon raises his hands- and his eyebrows- in mock surrender. 

Jo stays silent.

And long after Bonnie and Damon leave, when the moon has truly reached its apex and the night is still, Alaric realises that not everything can be fixed. He sits on the sofa, Jo curled up in his arms, listening to the rise and fall of her chest, and he wonders whether death should stay as a finality.

But he’s too far gone to care.


End file.
